Last October, Ron Howard revealed that the fan favourite Dark Horse Comics characters Tag & Bink were set to make their official in-canon debut in Solo: A Star Wars Story, where the hapless duo would be portrayed by screenwriter Johnathan Kasdan and first assistant director Toby Hefferman.
As it happened, Tag and Bink ended up on the cutting room floor, but Kasdan has revealed to Comic Book that the characters would have appeared early on in the movie as Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo is dismissed from the Imperial Academy.
“One of the things we went back and forth on a lot is that both Larry [Kasdan, co-writer] and I felt that it was important to see Han in the Imperial Academy, in the Navy, because we wanted to see him become this pilot,” said Kasdan. “From the first draft through the last draft, there was a chunk of the movie — very short, like, I’d say 80 seconds long — that showed him in the Imperial Academy doing some sort of flight things, sort of disobeying a direct order, and getting kicked out. As he’s getting kicked out, he’s being sort of moved out of the official courtroom by Tag and Bink, played by [me] and Toby Hefferman. We were certain that these scene was going to remain because it’s a crucial moment in his life. And it was the last thing to come out. It was heartbreaking.”
SEE ALSO: Solo: A Star Wars Story concept art showcases alternate Millennium Falcon designs
Are you disappointed that we didn’t get to see Tag & Bink in Solo?
A new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.
Solo: A Star Wars Story features Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!) as the famous smuggler, Donald Glover (Atlanta) as Lando Calrissian, Woody Harrelson (War for the Planet of the Apes) as Tobias Beckett, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) as L3-37, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Qi’Ra, Thandie Newton (Westworld) as Val, Ian Kenny (Sing Street) as Rebolt, Harley Durst (Wonder Woman) as Moloch, Jon Favreau (Spider-Man: Homecoming) as Rio Durant, Paul Bettany (Avengers: Infinity War) as Dryden Vos and Warwick Davis (Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi) as Weazel.